Sticks & Stones

Harry and Ginny thanked the goblin who’d spent almost the entire day showing them around their vaults, and stepped out the front door of Gringotts. It was dark, already past seven p.m., and almost every shop in Diagon Alley was closed up for the night. The street looked creepy, lit only by the few street lamps that cast as many shadows as light, and the lack of people, while noticeable even during the day, was even more ominous-seeming at night.

Harry turned to Ginny to suggest that they apparate straight to the back room of Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes rather than risk the walk through the abandoned Diagon Alley. But before he could speak, Ginny hissed “Is that Charlie?”

Harry turned to where Ginny was looking; sure enough, Charlie Weasley was standing in the doorway of a little restaurant that was still open, speaking with someone Harry couldn’t identify since their back was facing Harry and Ginny. From the slightly raised voices and vehement arm motions, it looked more like an argument than a normal conversation. “That’s him for sure,” Harry said. “Should we go and say hello? He looks a bit—um, busy.”

“He might need help,” Ginny declared, letting go of Harry’s arm and shoving her hand in her pocket for her wand. She didn’t withdraw it, but Harry could tell she was clutching it. “Come on.”

Harry also gripped his wand tightly inside his pocket as they made their way over to the two figures. As they got closer the argument became clearer: “…going to do it if you know what’s good for you!” Charlie demanded.

“I think not,” said the other figure in a clipped, precise voice. “It’s not for—”

“Harry!” Charlie exclaimed, having finally seen them. “Ginny! Am I glad to see you!”

The other figure turned in surprise, and as Harry had suspected—“Percy,” he said in acknowledgment, his voice tight. Despite Percy’s recent weak attempts to worm his way back into the Weasleys’ good graces, Percy had never expressed any real sorrow over turning on them in the first place, or admitted erring in his support of the Ministry over Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix.

“Harry, Ginny,” Percy said with a nod. “It’s a pleasure to see you again—”

“Wish I could say the same,” Ginny snapped, making Charlie smirk. “What are you arguing about now?”

“That’s a private matter,” Percy said quickly as Charlie opened his mouth. “Charles and I are still allowed to have a private chat between brothers, are we not?”

“Don’t call me Charles, PERCE,” Charlie snapped angrily. “I’ve told you a million times! Bill hates it when you call him William just as much—”

“It’s meant as a sign of respect,” Percy sniffed.

“Like when you called dad Father, you mean?” Ginny growled. “No, wait—that’s your idea of casual, isn’t it? And I suppose it was a sign of respect when you called dad a gullible fool and a stupid, no-account disgrace—”

“I was protecting my future!” Percy said hotly. “And I’m not the only person present to sever ties, am I?” he added, glaring at Harry. “Or have you conveniently forgotten about your former friend Seamus Finnegan? I understand he’s no longer speaking to you.”

“He talks to us more than you’re speaking to Mum and Dad!” Ginny shouted before Harry could stop her. “Or any of us for that matter! And your pathetic attempts to slime your way back into our good graces aren’t helping! If you wanted to be a Slytherin so badly you should have taken lessons before trying! Or at least begged the Sorting Hat to Sort you properly!”

“Well!” Percy pulled his cloak closed more tightly. “I can see my efforts to mend the family are wasted—”

“And feeble,” Ginny snapped.

“Goodbye, Charles,” Percy said haughtily, and walked away down Diagon Alley, not looking back once.

Harry grabbed Ginny’s arm when she drew her wand and aimed at Percy. “Ginny, no!” he hissed.

“Just a Bat-Bogey—”

“I wouldn’t, Gin,” Charlie said with a sigh. “It wouldn’t be worth the stink he’d raise.”

“He raises a stink anyway,” Ginny growled, reluctantly putting her wand away. She looked suspiciously at Charlie. “Why were you talking to him, then?”

“He accosted me,” Charlie said, shrugging. “I had dinner here—” he jerked a thumb toward the restaurant—“and when I came out he just appeared and started asking me leading questions about Mum and Dad—that is, Mother and Father. He was trying to make me feel guilty that mum’s so upset we haven’t welcomed him back; he didn’t like it when I said that Mum was better off without a son that thought so little of her.” Ginny nodded appreciatively.

“What was that you were telling him to do?” Harry asked. Charlie looked confused. “When you said ‘…doing it if you know what’s good for you’?”

“Oh… that,” Charlie said, and flushed. “I, er, I was telling him he’d better apologize to Mum and Dad—a proper apology too, one he meant—or we’d never forgive him.” He shrugged. “He didn’t think much of the idea, so the hell with him.”

“I’ve been saying that for more than two years,” Ginny grumbled.

“I can’t believe he brought up Finnegan,” Charlie said, shaking his head. “After his parents were killed and all? That was pretty low, even for Percy. The Order even heard rumors that Finnegan was resorting to Dark magic to get revenge of the ones who killed his mum and dad—”

“He’s not!” Ginny insisted instantly.

Charlie frowned. “How do you know? I thought he wasn’t talking to any of you…”

“He—he’s not,” Ginny said backpedaling. “I just mean… He wouldn’t. Seamus would never resort to Dark magic.”

“Oh. Well, it was just rumors,” Charlie told them. “The Order didn’t really consider it serious. They watched Finnegan for a bit, I think, but he was just going to pubs, getting sloshed and going home. Oh, and getting into fights every now and then. But he wasn’t turning Dark, so we stopped watching.” He stamped his feet against the cold. “Look, it’s good to see you and everything, but mum and dad are expecting me. Plus I’m freezing my bits off.”

Harry and Ginny said goodbye, and watched as Charlie Disapparated. Harry grasped Ginny’s arm. “Come on, we have to Apparate to the back room of the shop. Right now,” he said tightly.

Ginny clearly noticed the edge in Harry’s voice. “Okay,” she said, surprised. “I’ll go first.”

Harry nodded, so Ginny concentrated and Disapparated in front of him. Harry waited a few seconds and then Disapparated, appearing in the store room of Weasleys’ Wizarding Wheezes. Ginny had moved over to the fireplace that they frequently used to Floo to the House of Black. “Harry, what’s wrong?” she asked as he walked over.

“Wait until we’re at the house,” Harry said. “Go on.”

Ginny was bewildered by Harry’s anger. “Okay,” she said meekly, and took a handful of Floo powder. She threw down the powder, stepped into the fireplace and said “The House of Black!” After she had vanished, Harry waited a moment before repeating the process, and he skidded out of the Floo in the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place.

Ginny helped Harry up. Harry glanced around and saw that they were alone. “Harry, what’s going on?” Ginny asked nervously. “What got you so upset?”

“What got me upset?” Harry said angrily. “Damn it, Ginny, you can’t just go shouting things like that!”

“Like what?” Ginny asked, confused.

“ ‘He talks to us more than you’re speaking to Mum and Dad’!” Harry snapped. “We’re trying to keep Seamus’ double role a secret, and you made it sound like we’re having chats with him all the time! But he’s playing at not being on speaking terms with us—slips like that could cost Seamus his life!”

Ginny gaped in dismayed shock. “Oh, bloody hell, you’re right!” she moaned. “And I rushed to defend him against the rumors Charlie mentioned too…”

“Well, at least only Charlie heard that part,” Harry said grudgingly. “But you shouted the comment about Seamus talking to us—I bet everyone in the restaurant heard it!”

“Damn.” Ginny put her face in her hands. “I’m so sorry, Harry,” she muttered thickly. “Merlin, I am so stupid…”

Harry put his arms around Ginny. “It’s okay, Ginny, it’s not a disaster,” he said soothingly. “But you need to control your temper.”

“Yeah, I know,” Ginny agreed. She hugged Harry tightly. “It’s hard to when bloody Percy is around. But that’s no excuse—you’re right, mistakes like that could cost lives. I’ll be more careful about reining in my tongue, I promise.”

“So long as you’re only reining in what you say with your tongue, not what you do,” Harry said suggestively. Ginny reached down and smacked his arse. “Hey!”

“You deserved that,” Ginny said, unrepentant. She pressed her cheek against Harry’s chest. “You need to clean out your dirty mind.”

“I’m a teenage boy, Ginny,” Harry pointed out. “That’s not going to happen.”

She snorted.

“Come on,” Harry said, releasing Ginny, who also let go reluctantly. “We need to go talk to Hermione and Ron.”

“We do?” Ginny said in surprise. “What about?”

“Well, for one thing, we need to tell them what we found—or rather, didn’t find—in the vaults,” Harry said as he guided Ginny to the stairs. “But I think we also need to talk about meeting with Seamus again. He needs to know he’s been followed, and that some people might question his allegiances. It’s too important not to warn him about.”

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right,” Ginny agreed. “Damn it, I can’t believe I made such a stupid mistake!”

“We can’t expect everything to go perfectly, Gin,” Harry said to her. “It sure as hell hasn’t so far.”